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BLANIK L-13 AD Status
Current Status of the Blanik L-13 SPAR AD Grounding?
Does anyone know what the current status of the Blanik L-13 Eddy Current testing procedure is? Has the University of Prague developed this procedure for LET’s review? It is my understanding the clubs of the Czech Republic have been flying the L-13’s by claiming hardship to the Czech Federal Government. This doesn’t help the situation, as there is no pressure being applied against the LET Factory. Thanks for any information you may be able to provide. Tim Hanke Adirondack Soaring Group, Inc. Saratoga Springs, NY USA |
#2
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Training and Ride Glider Status
[subject edited to address wider concerns]
I wouldn't hold my breath on any kind of satisfactory resolution to this. My sense is that the Blanik was designed for an operational environment where it was expected to be crashed before approaching the end of its 3000 hour lifetime. Absent the Soviet-era air defense infrastructure that needed them as introductory trainers, and was also desperate for Western cash, there's no hope of seeing any more at affordable prices. About the best we could do is resolve not to buy any LET or Blanik products on the general principle that they do not support their old products, so we cannot expect them to support new ones. Unfortunately, LET seems to have so little connection to the earlier company that actually built all those two-seaters that they couldn't really care less about them. In fact, in today's risk-averse aviation environment, it is probably in their best interest to sweep as many of them out of the sky as it can. Furthermore, most of us already don't buy LET products, and it seems to have had little effect on the situation. The situation begs the wider questions, where do we get new glider pilots if trainers become so scarce and expensive? If we let the cost of soaring instruction rise with the burdened price of training gliders, who will want to even start? Do we let the commercial, consumerist, invisible hand of the marketplace sweep our sport from the sky? Or is there some legitimate way to subvert the laws of supply and demand? Thanks, Bob K. |
#3
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Training and Ride Glider Status
This is strictly second hand info but I know someone who was told by a
non-destructive test engineer that, even if they approve some sort of eddy current test, it would likely cost several thousand (I think the number was "5" but I'm not sure) to do the test. The cost was attributed to the type of machine necessary to do the test. From what I understand, the location of potential cracks is buried deep inside the wing and normal equipment can't do it. On top of that it would likely be a recurring AD. This particular engineer, citing liability concerns, said he wouldn't do the test even if he had the equipment and could get the price. We were offered $5000 for ours before the AD came out and we were a little insulted by the offer. |
#4
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Training and Ride Glider Status
On Feb 4, 5:57*am, Bob Kuykendall wrote:
The situation begs the wider questions, where do we get new glider pilots if trainers become so scarce and expensive? If we let the cost of soaring instruction rise with the burdened price of training gliders, who will want to even start? I don't think that's a big problem. Most people seem to get solo by about 40 flights and 10 hours of air time. At our current club rates, that's about NZ$2500 (US$2000) for tows and NZ$600 (US$450) for hire of a DG1000 at casual rates [1]. A glider that we could hire out for half the hourly rate would save less than 10% of the total (and I didn't even include club membership fees, logbook and other training material, landing fees). The equation changes if you're using a winch for training but 1) US clubs don't use winches, and 2) the Blanik was never the trainer of choice for a winch operation. [1] in fact you'd pay less via one or other bulk-buy scheme: either the "prepay to solo" scheme, or the NZ$900/year "all you can eat scheme". |
#5
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Training and Ride Glider Status
On Feb 3, 10:18*pm, Bruce Hoult wrote:
The equation changes if you're using a winch for training but 1) US clubs don't use winches, and 2) the Blanik was never the trainer of choice for a winch operation. 1) not quite true: winching is regaining some popularity in the US and there are currently around 35 winches in operation used mainly for primary training. 2) not quite true: pretty much all L-13 I have seen in operation in Europe were used primarily in winch operations with the Y-bridle. U. Neumann |
#6
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Training and Ride Glider Status
On Feb 3, 11:08*pm, GM wrote:
2) not quite true: pretty much all L-13 I have seen in operation in Europe were used primarily in winch operations with the Y-bridle. All my USA winch launches in the L-13 also used the bridle. It works well but is a bit more tricky to hook up that a more common Tost CG hook. There was nothing I was aware of about the characteristics of the L-13 on a bridle that made it unsuitable for winch training. Andy |
#7
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Training and Ride Glider Status
On Feb 3, 8:57*am, Bob Kuykendall wrote:
The situation begs the wider questions, where do we get new glider pilots if trainers become so scarce and expensive? If we let the cost of soaring instruction rise with the burdened price of training gliders, who will want to even start? Do we let the commercial, consumerist, invisible hand of the marketplace sweep our sport from the sky? Or is there some legitimate way to subvert the laws of supply and demand? www.retroplane.net/forum/download.php?id=496 What if they had based the design on the K13, rather than the K18? I've spent the last 5 years designing a low cost winch (yes, I'm slow, but I'm almost ready to cut metal, really), and am acutely aware of the fact that there aren't a lot of decent low cost training gliders left to go along with our winch... Marc |
#8
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Training and Ride Glider Status
On Feb 4, 12:29*am, Marc wrote:
On Feb 3, 8:57*am, Bob Kuykendall wrote: The situation begs the wider questions, where do we get new glider pilots if trainers become so scarce and expensive? If we let the cost of soaring instruction rise with the burdened price of training gliders, who will want to even start? Do we let the commercial, consumerist, invisible hand of the marketplace sweep our sport from the sky? Or is there some legitimate way to subvert the laws of supply and demand? www.retroplane.net/forum/download.php?id=496 What if they had based the design on the K13, rather than the K18? I've spent the last 5 years designing a low cost winch (yes, I'm slow, but I'm almost ready to cut metal, really), and am acutely aware of the fact that there aren't a lot of decent low cost training gliders left to go along with our winch... Marc Hmm, I hate posting via Google, I can't make links work anymore. That was a link to an article on the Edgeley EA9 Optimist glider, a K18 clone with 80% of the components laser cut from pre-cured Fibrelam honeycomb sheets. Try again: http://tinyurl.com/45kd3ah Marc |
#9
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Training and Ride Glider Status
At 08:38 04 February 2011, Marc wrote:
On Feb 4, 12:29=A0am, Marc wrote: On Feb 3, 8:57=A0am, Bob Kuykendall wrote: The situation begs the wider questions, where do we get new glider pilots if trainers become so scarce and expensive? If we let the cost of soaring instruction rise with the burdened price of training gliders, who will want to even start? Do we let the commercial, consumerist, invisible hand of the marketplace sweep our sport from the sky? Or is there some legitimate way to subvert the laws of supply and demand? www.retroplane.net/forum/download.php?id=3D496 What if they had based the design on the K13, rather than the K18? I've spent the last 5 years designing a low cost winch (yes, I'm slow, but I'm almost ready to cut metal, really), and am acutely aware of the fact that there aren't a lot of decent low cost training gliders left to go along with our winch... Marc Hmm, I hate posting via Google, I can't make links work anymore. That was a link to an article on the Edgeley EA9 Optimist glider, a K18 clone with 80% of the components laser cut from pre-cured Fibrelam honeycomb sheets. Try again: http://tinyurl.com/45kd3ah Marc Edgeley did have a two seater on the drawing board - Edgeley EA10 - was going to be produced for the Faulkes Flying Foundation. However don't think marketing was his strong point -hence no sales on the EA9, and no development of the EA10. |
#10
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BLANIK L-13 AD Status
On Feb 3, 9:19*am, Tim Hanke wrote:
Current Status of the Blanik L-13 SPAR AD Grounding? Does anyone know what the current status of the Blanik L-13 Eddy Current testing procedure is? Has the University of Prague developed this procedure for LET’s review? It is my understanding the clubs of *the Czech Republic have been flying the L-13’s by claiming hardship to the Czech Federal Government. This doesn’t help the situation, as there is no pressure being applied against the LET Factory. Thanks for any information you may be able to provide. Tim Hanke Adirondack Soaring Group, Inc. Saratoga Springs, NY USA |
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